In recent years a new problem has been identified in the field of surge suppression, which is a conditional commonly known as "ground potential rise" (hereinafter GPR). Ground potential rise (GPR) is described as a sudden rise of electrical potential in a specific region of the earth as a result of an exposure of that area to a high potential electrical charge, whether created by natural causes such as lightning strikes or by artificial means, such as high power lines coming into contact with the earth. With these types of occurrences, an area of the earth's surface, typically having a diameter of at least 1,000 feet from the epicenter of the imparted charge, becomes highly energized by the electrical potential. AT the moment the GPR event begins to take place, an electrical wave is radiated out from the point of the disturbance (the epicenter) in every direction. In the case of a lightning ground strike, a high current and high voltage field is then propagated outwardly from the strike point. If the GPR induced surge encounters a grounded metallic object, such as a ground rod or a buried metallic cable, a portion of the surge is then induced into that conductor. Ground loops which commonly occur in electrical power networks and especially in telecommunications are effected by the voltages and currents which develop as a result of the potential differences existing between multiple grounding points.
When such a ground loop is present, excessive currents in the circuit can cause damage to the circuit. This condition can cause severe damage to electronic equipment that is electrically connected to such circuits.
Standard practices of surge management and suppression call for a surge suppression network which attempts to shunt a surge event to ground. However, if the surge event has originated in the ground, it will then tend to flow from that point into the electrical and communication wiring and thence back through the circuit without being suppressed. All known forms of surge suppression technology attempt to clamp a surge event to ground, and therefore are helpless to cope with a surge event that originates within the earth/ground. This is because the earth is already saturated with a high potential charge that is "looking" for a return path to the atmosphere or any area where the electrical potential is less than the area where the GPR event is the strongest.